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How Gardening Catalogs Can Help You Start Your Garden
We've all seen them in the mailbox - those colorful gardening catalogs that have lush flowers on them. You might have even looked through one, but did you realize it can be a valuable resource for planning a garden even if you are just a beginner?
When I first started gardening I would be totally overwhelmed by these catalogs. There's so many different types of flowers and shrubs in them how do you know what to order? But then I realized that if planned out my new garden properly, the catalog could be an invaluable tool.
The first step in any new garden is to figure out where you are going to put it and how much room you have. The location in your yard will have a lot to do with the kinds of plants you can plant. Is it shady? Then you must stick to shade loving plants. Does it get 12 hours of blazing hot sun a day? Then you need to either provide some sort of partial shade for your plants or only buy those that love full sun.
Once you know the conditions of your garden, you can use this information, and some good gardening catalogs to help you pick the perfect plants.
Once you have your garden location picked out, you need to get a rough measurement so that you know how many plants to buy. In addition, you'll need an idea of how you want the garden to look. I like mine to be very lush and full of plants with hardly any bare spots, but I have seen others that have just a few plants strategically placed that look good too. It is really a matter of personal preference, and sometimes budget.
Now that you know how many plants you want to buy, you can go "shopping" in your catalog. Get a nice cup of tea, sit back and relax as you browse through the pages choosing the perfect perennials for your garden. You'll need to be sure to choose plants that will thrive in your zone as well as ones that are suited to the amount of sun your garden gets or you will surely be disappointed with the results.
You also want to take color into consideration. You don't have to stick to just one color in your garden, but plant to plant flowers whose colors compliment each other adjacent to each other.
Another key thing to think about is height. If you only use plants of the same height your garden will be boring! You want varying heights and you want to plant the taller ones in the back and the shortest ones in the front. That way you will get a good view of all your plants as you are standing and looking at your garden.
Perhaps the best thing about gardening catalogs is that they allow those of us who live in colder climates to dream about and plan our gardens during the winter time when it's not possible to go outside and play in the dirt. Choosing the right plants and having a good plan will help you get your garden going easily when spring comes!
If you want more tips on starting your garden including the key elements you need to know about when gardening, how to grow plants in containers and tips on growing herbs and vegetables sign up for my free gardening tips report at http://gardening-ez.com/gardeningtipsreport.php
Source: www.articlesbase.com